Dear President,

As of 2012, the top five leading causes of death besides old age are Ischemic heart disease, stroke, COPD, lower respiratory infections, and Trachea Bronchus lung cancers. The latter three causes are all some sort of lung disease. Air pollution damages the lungs in many ways. Granted not all lung diseases come from air pollution, but a good amount do. The main reasons air pollution is a dangerous threat to the well-being of our future population are that it destroys our environment and it damages our health.

Air pollution is mainly a result of dangerous chemicals being released into the atmosphere. Think of it this way, would you want dangerous chemicals near your body. Some horrible effects air pollution can have on our environment are acid rain, forest damage, and negative effects on wildlife. Acid rain occurs when nitrogen oxides and sulfur oxides are released into the air when fossil fuels are burned. Then, these acids fall back to Earth through rain or snow. Air pollution can damage forests by reducing growth of trees and other plants, survivability of tree seedlings, and other harmful deformities. Air pollution can have negative effects on wildlife by spreading toxins that contribute to birth defects and more.

As seen above, three of the top five leading causes of death are partly caused by air pollution. Air pollution is very dangerous and has already killed four-hundred, seventy thousand people in China. The United States does not need that problem to add to its list. Air pollution damages lungs and causes bronchitis and pneumonia. It also is the fourth leading cause of death world-wide, claiming about 5.5 million lives a year.

Even though you are the president fixing the problem of air pollution will be almost impossibly hard. You could put higher taxes on light bulbs that are not energy fluorescent. You also could ban smoking, which would help both the environment and the smokers themselves. It would also help families of smokers who are hurt by second-hand smoke. Pollution in general seems almost impossible to stop, but with enough effort, the Earth may be a better and a much more safer place.

Air pollution effects our lives everyday, even if we don’t notice it. We breath in haze, smog, and smoke all the time. All of those hazards shorten our lives. No matter who wins the presidency, if it is Donald Trump Hillary Clinton, Gary Johnson, Jill Stein, or even someone else, I hope you can take a step forward to a better future. 

Sincerely, 

Danny C.